Theatre Chit Chat
That's Your Opinion...Here's mine
Harriet's Return
Harriet Return: Based upon The Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman playing at the Castillo Theatre located at 543 west 42nd Street. The play runs two hour with one intermission. The play closes on March 4, 2018.
Karen Jones Meadows is the playwright and pays Harriet.
Harriet was born (Araminta Ross) into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1822. She helped slaves escape in the Underground Railroad. In the Civil War she was a cook, nurse, scout and spy. She was active in the women’s suffrage. Harriet was married two times to John Tubman (m 1844-1851) and Nelson Davies (m1869: until his death in 1888).
The play opens at a restaurant with a couple engaging in conversation. The restaurant is owned by an African American. The woman gets enraged when some man near her table makes remarks about African Americans, which he is. All of a sudden she hears voices which overcome her. She is now Harriet Tubman.
During her childhood she was whipped and hit in the head. She was told she was stupid.
Around 1844 she married John Tubman. She was fascinated by him. He was a free black man with his own home. In the morning she had to return to her parents slave quarters.
In 1949 she escaped to Philadelphia. Her eyes lit up she sees the city. She makes a comment that she got a job, it was like slavery but you got paid for it.
The second act tells what happen to her until her death. She made trips to the southern territories to lead enslave people to escape to the Northeast and Canada. One time she went to get John but he had remarried and refuses to go with her. She was devastated. Another time she got her parents.
During the Civil War she helped troops and design battles for the Union.
She became so well know, Queen Victoria sent her a scarf.
We learn a lot more about Harriet during the show. This is just a highlight of what we learn about this courageous woman.
The set is great and it’s clever how the clothes are hidden around the stage for Karen to can change into.
Karen is breath taking in the role. She mesmerizes you from start to finish.
Harriet Return’s is a play worth seeing.
Review by Rozanna Radakovich.
Photos by Annazor.
To read a candid interview with Karen, scroll down to photos. Click on photos for this and other shows.